Hawks must trade two big names

You wonder now where all the fans are now who were screaming mad when the Blackhawks fired Denis Savard and hired Joel Quenneville.

All Quenneville is so far is Coach of the Year.

The new bench boss, who never draws attention to himself, has made changes on and off the ice too numerous to mention, but the biggest is holding players accountable, and removing their excuses to fail.

Quenneville plays only those who earn it, so Cam Barker sits and Jack Skille gets sent down, even though they're high picks and it might offend the guy who selected them.

It's been amazing to watch young, undisciplined and - occasionally - selfish players transformed into genuine NHL skaters and solid teammates.

Their phenomenal December, when young teams tend to struggle, is proof enough that the Hawks are ready to be a playoff team.

But let's be realistic about what that means.

Young teams with no playoff experience don't tend to go far in the postseason.

Maybe the Hawks will be different, and they sure look good enough right now to win a round or two. But everyone I talk to with the Hawks thinks - and Scotty Bowman has said this publicly - that the team is two or three years away from competing for a Stanley Cup.

Even that track is a fast one.

Consider that of the Hawks' seven healthy defenseman, only Brian Campbell (47 games) and Matt Walker (four games) have dressed for an NHL playoff game.

Of their 13 forwards, Martin Havlat has played 51 games (34 points) and Craig Adams 29 games (no points). After that, Andrew Ladd has 17 games (5 points), Patrick Sharp 12 games (1 point), and Ben Eager two games (no points).

That's it.

It absolutely doesn't mean the Hawks can't win a round, but it's premature to think they're ready to challenge a Detroit or San Jose, teams that have been through the wars, suffered through the tough times, and are desperate to dance with the Cup.

In April, when the Hawks won't sneak up on anyone, the ice surface gets smaller, the games more physical, and the defense quite serious.

This isn't bad news. It's not, by the way, a criticism, either. It's just part of the process, and the best thing that can happen to the Hawks before that is to face some adversity - maybe an ugly losing streak - and fight their way through it.

Any coach will tell you privately that a little adversity can take a team a long way, and in that sense it's not a bad thing that the Red Wings smacked the Hawks around last week.

What was really heartening was hearing the players and coach tell the truth about those defeats, whereas in past years we would have heard about bad breaks, excuses, and how close they were to winning those games.

Those two matches put the players back in their place, checked their egos a bit, and reminded them - without their coach having to do it - that they have won precisely nothing yet.

That said, the Hawks need to trade Nikolai Khabibulin before the March 4 deadline.

Yes, the veteran goalie has taken the Hawks this far, but he's not going to be around after this year - unless you have a way to move Cristobal Huet's contract.

Khabibulin is a commodity, and in the NHL you must maximize assets and get value in return, something the Hawks have often failed to recognize, but with new faces around like Bowman and Al MacIsaac, that message will probably be delivered.

Furthermore, since the Hawks have so much invested in Huet, he must play in the postseason, where he's been twice and hasn't won a series.

Khabibulin is always great in contract years, but this isn't about which goalie is better today. It's about who's going to play for you tomorrow.

You can make the same argument about Havlat, who's also playing for a new contract and has shown some life.

It's not likely that the Hawks intend to invest more in the oft-injured winger, with huge extensions on the horizon for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, and a big one for Duncan Keith.

So get something for Khabibulin and Havlat before the deadline, finish the season hard, and let your youngsters get those playoff minutes that are going to pay off a year or two from now. Let them succeed and fail, grow and suffer, at the most critical time of year.

If you can admit you're not going to win the Stanley Cup this year, then you can surely trade Khabibulin and Havlat and get players and picks in return that will help you down the road, maybe even next year.

If the ultimate goal is to win it all, and not just make the playoffs or sell season tickets, then that call is an easy one to make.

brozner@dailyherald.com